Hines tables highest bid for Unicredit HQ in Milan

Bids submitted so far for Unicredit's €350 mln headquarters in Milan have fallen short of landlord expectations with Hines Italia Sgr tabling the highest offer at €320 mln, PropertyEU has learned.

Owner IdeaFimit is believed to have entered into talks with the Hines consortium, which also includes sovereign wealth funds ADIA from Abu Dhabi and GIC from Singapore.

Another joint venture, between Italy's Prelios and UK investor London & Regional Properties, has offered €300 mln for the scheme, which is fully let to Unicredit on a 12-year lease although only 30% of the space is actually used by the bank.

Asset manager IdeaFimit hired CBRE in July last year to market the scheme for a price of over €350 mln. Other players which have showed interest but have not made it to the final round include Rome-based asset manager Sorgente and US giant JP Morgan Asset Management as well as US private equity firm Blackstone.

The complex for sale, known as Palazzo Broggi, dates back to the early 1900s and provides around 50,000 m2 of office space in central Milan. The landmark office complex is owned by IdeaFimit’s Fondo Omicron Plus, which bought it in 2009 as part of a larger acquisition of €800 mln of assets from lender Unicredit.

The deal would represent the latest acquisition by Hines Italia Sgr in Milan. Last week the asset manager, a joint venture between US group Hines and the Italian Catella family, carried out two acquisitions in the Milan area for a total of €155 mln.

In the largest acquisition, Hines has bought an office campus near Milan from UK industrial REIT Segro for €118.7 mln, representing a 5% premium to the book value of the asset at end-2014 and a net initial yield of 7.3%. The transaction is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2015.

Energy Park is a fully let, 61,400 m2 suburban office park located around 20 kilometres from the centre of Milan. Besides offices, it comprises amenities such as a canteen, kindergarten and multi-storey car park.

The property was built by Segro and completed in mid-2014. It generates an annualised net rent of €8.8 mln from Alcatel Lucent and other tenants including DNV, SAP, Nobel Biocare and Stanley Black & Decker.

Separately, Hines has bought the 8,000 m2 Headquarters of luxury firm Richemond at via Crespi inMilano for €37 mln. The vendor is Bnp Paribas Real Estate.